Coronavirus Protests: Amazon Workers To Demonstrate At New York Location Over Lack Of Protection Against Virus
By Wesley Dockery
03/29/20 IBT

Amazon workers at the e-commerce company’s warehouse in Staten Island, New York, are planning a protest Monday due to a lack of protections against the coronavirus, CNBC reported Sunday. An employee recently tested positive for the virus at the facility, also known as JFK8, causing workers' concerns at the warehouse.

Nearly 100 workers intend to stop working Monday to urge Amazon to close the warehouse for cleaning. The aggrieved workers want the company to then pay them while the facility is being sanitized.

“Since the building won’t close by itself, we’re going to have to force [Amazon’s] hand,” Chris Smalls, the lead organizer of the strike told CNBC. “We will not return until the building gets sanitized.”

The facility remains open, with a Amazon spokesperson telling CNBC that the health and safety of workers is “top priority.” The company has supposedly increased cleanings at its facilities and said that any worker at the Staten Island warehouse who came in contact with the infected employee can stay at home for two weeks with pay.

The coronavirus has caused workers to demonstrate in various industries. A group of Instacart shoppers are planning a nationwide strike on Monday, as the grocery delivery app faces surging demand due to the coronavirus. The shoppers claim that the company is not doing enough to protect the workers against the virus by not providing them with hand sanitizer or masks.

Nurses at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx have also held a press conference on Saturday morning to protest the lack of medical supplies there. The healthcare workers claim that the hospital is asking them to reuse protective gear when treating patients who have coronavirus.

The coronavirus has caused shortages of medical equipment, with states asking for the federal government for extra supplies. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, for example, has asked for 30,000 ventilators from the federal government, which will be needed when New York faces a peak of coronavirus cases in about three weeks.